How do you prioritize competing demands?

I used to use my calendar for time management - if there was a gap, I’d say yes to an ask. Now I send my tasks through a strict set of criteria that are ties to my north star. If they get past those criteria, THEN I look to my calendar. Learning to say no can be helpful with ruthlessly prioritizing. Figure out your north star and prioritize tasks accordingly to help you get there.

-In my experience, here is what i do; 1.Identify and List the Demands: Start by making a comprehensive list of all the competing demands you need to address. Writing them down will give you a clear overview of what you're dealing with. 2. Understand Urgency and Importance: Evaluate the urgency and importance of each demand. Urgency refers to how quickly a task needs to be done, while importance relates to how much impact it has on your goals and objectives. 3. Use Prioritization Methods Eisenhower Matrix ABC Method Timeboxing Consider Deadlines Assess Resources and Constraints Prioritize tasks Break Down Complex Tasks: Be Flexible Avoid Overcommitment

Competing priorities are a common phenomenon and as an HR business partner, I navigate them by asking 3 questions in order of importance: 1. Which priority impacts the customer the most? 2. Which priority impacts my business partners the most? 3. Which priority impacts my reporting vertical the most? These three questions allow me to organize the demands of my workload in a methodical way that keeps my priorities met in a timely manner. This also allows me to provide reasonable timeline expectations which turns "No, I am unable to complete that" into "Yes, I can get that done by end of day, Thursday, does that work for you?"

In today's fast-paced world, prioritizing competing demands is crucial for achieving goals and managing stress. Start by understanding your values and using the Eisenhower Matrix to categorize tasks by urgency and importance. Be willing to set boundaries, occasionally saying 'no' or renegotiating deadlines. Break larger tasks into smaller, manageable steps and utilize technology like task management apps. Regularly reassess your priorities, ensure you practice self-care, and don’t shy away from delegation. An outside perspective can also offer valuable feedback. Ultimately, keep an eye on the bigger picture to ensure daily tasks align with long-term goals.

Navigating the Challenge: How to Prioritize Competing Demands #1 Identify and Understand #2 Weigh Impact and Consequences #3 Values-Based Prioritization #4 Dance with Deadlines #5 Resources and Constraints #6 Delegation and Collaboration #7 Embrace the Eisenhower Matrix #8 The Power of "No" #9 The Ongoing Review #10 Nurture Self-Care

Assessing the urgency and importance of each demand is key to effectively managing your workload. This can be done by categorizing your demands into four groups: urgent and important, urgent but not important, important but not urgent, and neither urgent nor important. By doing this, you can prioritize the demands that are critical to your goals and values, delegate or minimize those that are urgent but not important, and schedule or plan for those that are important but not urgent. It's also essential to eliminate or ignore those that are neither urgent nor important to free up valuable time and resources.

To correctly assess the urgency and demand of each task, we must put all our professional and personal tasks on a single list. I use a SuperList, rather than a to-do list, which holds all things that demand my time. So grocery shopping and group meetings find a place on the same list. Afterall, I can't really function well on an empty stomach!! Jokes apart, you need to remember that all your task of the day need to be completed within that same 24 hours you have. How can you expect to decide which task is more urgent or important if you don't even see them in one place to begin with.

Understanding the goals and assigning time lines to achieving the goals help in accompany one`s goals and objectives. The importance of scale of preference and order of priority can never be over emphasized when prioritizing demands. However, in prioritizing these demands consideration should be given to the following; Working smart (not hard), avoidance of procrastination (a thief of time), proper delegation of duties and effective monitoring, assigning reasonable timeline expectations, flexibility in execution of the tasks by ranking the demands into urgent, important, not urgent, not important etc. In all, good planning and ability to multi-task play crucial roles in prioritizing work demands. These helped in my previous employments.

In my experience, knowing your deadlines and those of your clients is key. This enables you to prioritise tasks in order of urgency. However, where two, or more, tasks are due at the same time you need to decide which task you are going to do and ask for help in completing any tasks you are not going to get to. Working well within a team is essential.

Measuring each step within a controlled structure gives profound analytical information. I always have a list on my desk, detailing what is important. Distinguishing between what is important and urgent, now that takes some time.

Some of the things that are competing for time today can be put on a scale of preference and ranked in order of importance. The skills of putting and displaying "delay gratification" will come in handy. There are things that can wait till further date, while those pressing needs are attended to now. With this, one's time will be greatly maximised and utilised.

Review and adjust is very important as no matter what system you find that works best for you, org & life tasks can change priority daily with inevitable changes. Without review, a task deemed not urgent when first assessed, can become more urgent with time; while some deemed urgent at first, can actually become less important, and even no longer necessary over time. One challenge to overcome sometimes is filling up time with the "quick/easy" tasks that in the end delay the important ones that take more time. It may seem like you are getting more done, when the reality sometimes is procrastination. Good luck.

Review and adjust is one of the most important characteristics of time and work organization! I keep a meticulously managed calendar and planner with like bins and colors designated for all of my tasks and activities. And at the end of each week, month, and quarter, I am able to efficiently review both how I have allocated my time and which tasks I have accomplished in those respective pillars. This visibility allows me to efficiently manage competing demands between cross-functional activities so that inevitable "Important vs. Urgent vs. Results" question is easy to answer. MS Office tools like Outlook, Planner, and OneNote make this very easy to do! This style works for me, and I am always interested in what works for others.

In the military we use the term "Semper Gumbi" to mean always(which Semper means in latin) stay flexible(Like Gumbi lol). And we usually use this term when our days priority is drastically shifted but when someone says that term we all know that we need to work together to ensure the mission is met, to include our new found priority. So, when a curve ball is thrown your way going forward, just think to yourself "Semper Gumbi" and if you're on a team, lean on them to make sure it and all your other priorities are achieved, without any one person feeling like they're carrying the entire load.

Acknowledge what you realistically can and can’t get done. Sometimes, you may have more tasks than you can handle in a given day or week. In such cases, you need to be honest with yourself and others about what you can realistically accomplish and what you need to postpone or delegate. You should also communicate your priorities and expectations clearly with your stakeholders, such as your boss, colleagues, clients, or family members, and ask for help or support when needed.

We often say yes to tasks because we feel obliged to do so , may be due to social conditioning or because it's a senior asking or simply because we can't say no. That's such a huge mistake. We must learn to say NO. You need to change your perspective and realise that every yes is a new task. Before saying yes to any new task, you need to see if you have the time, energy, resources and mind space to do it. Trust me, if you don't put your 100% to the ask, you are actually doing a disservice by not not saying no.

Prioritizing competing demands is a critical aspect of effective time management, especially for anyone with multiple responsibilities. Besides mentioned thoughts above, I would say that one can handle this by implementing some other steps such as; -Align with company goals, -Delegate when possible, -Set realistic deadlines, -Break down complex tasks, -Communicate expectations, -Avoid overcommitment, -Focus on outcomes, -Learn from experience, By applying these time management strategies and prioritization techniques, one can efficiently manage competing demands, maintain focus on what matters most, and achieve their personal and organizational goals effectively.

Whilst all the above is great for helping you to prioritise competing demands, keeping outside distractions to a minimum also helps. If you have a deadline, mark out "focus time" in your calendar, only look at your emails at certain times of the day, put your phone on "do not disturb". If you don't like the feeling that you are being rude by ignoring emails and phone calls, advise those contacting you that you are unavailable using an out of office reply on emails and update your voicemail message on your phone.